🏀 Who is Brittney Griner?
Brittney Griner, 31, is a professional basketball athlete and two-time Olympic champion for the United States. She currently plays for the UMMC Ekaterinburg team in Russia and also for the Phoenix Mercury in the US Women's Basketball League (WNBA). Due to the inequality in sports salaries in the country, Griner plays abroad during the off-season of the North American tournament to extend his contracts.
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⛓️ Why was she arrested?
Griner was arrested on February 17 this year at an airport in Moscow, Russia. Authorities in the country alleged that she was carrying “significant quantities” of hash oil, a marijuana derivative, in her luggage. The arrest was made a week before the start of the war in Ukraine.
In early May, the U.S. government declared that Griner was “unjustly detained,” adding that it would provide support for her to return to the United States.
🇧🇷 What was the reaction to the arrest?
Artists, athletes and Griner's family members have mobilized through the We Are BG movement to bring Brittney Griner back to the United States – mainly demanding that the country get more directly involved with the case.
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Considered one of the greatest basketball players of recent times, LeBron James published an appeal on his Twitter profile: “We need to come together and help in whatever way possible to bring BG home quickly and safely! Our voices as athletes are stronger together.”
🤔 How did the case impact?
According to one report from The New York Times, the Russian government is interested in carrying out a 'prisoner exchange'. The proposal would be to release Griner, while the United States would return Viktor Bout, known as the “merchant of death”.
Bout is serving a 25-year sentence in the US for arms trafficking. His story inspired the character in the film “The Lord of Arms”, starring Nicolas Cage.
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